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Japan raises funds for disputed islands

"The Russian prime minister was on a scheduled tour of his country," he said.

Lavrov said he hoped to meet his Japanese counterpart "very soon" to discuss cooperation between the countries "substantively and constructively."

Medvedev held talks with Sakhalin's governor on improving air transportation between islands, according to the Russian Federation's government website.

When he was president, Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the islands when he went there in November 2010.

The Kurils stretch between Russia in the north and Japan in the south. Following Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, the Soviet Union annexed the four southernmost islands, which previously belonged to Japan.

Ever since, the islands -- called the South Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan -- have been the subject of dispute. That dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty following World War II.